Lossing's Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution in Virginia & Maryland
It was by the placid waters of the Chesapeake Bay that some of the most dramatic scenes of the Revolutionary War were played out, paving the way for the birth of a new nation. In Virginia and Maryland, the struggle for independence from Great Britain was finally won at battlefields and towns that stretch from Annapolis to the Shenandoah Valley. In 1848, New Yorker Benson J. Lossing embarked on a two year trek that covered thousands of miles through the original thirteen states and Canada. His mission was to collect and preserve the stories of the men and women who had fought to make the United States a reality. His original work was published in 1850, consisting of two illustrated volumes comprising over 2,000 pages of first-hand history. In this book, we have excerpted the chapters that deal with the war in Virginia and Maryland (including Washington, D.C. and the Albemarle region of North Carolina).It was the scene of some of the war’s hardest fights. Benson J. Lossing tells the stories of the heroes and villains of the war from the accounts of the people who were there. If a Redcoat and an American stood on opposite banks of astream and threw rocks at each other, it’s probably in his book. It includes illustrations of the people and places that played such a big role in our nation’s founding, but that too often have been lost to the passing of time. Lossing’s account of his travels also present a wonderful picture of the original thirteen states as they were in the decade before America’s next great crucible, the Civil War. We hope you’ll enjoy this incredible account of the American Revolution.
ABOUT THE EDITOR..
Jack E. Fryar, Jr. has authored or edited more than thirty volumes of North Carolina and Cape Fear history. His historical specialty is colonial North Carolina, particularly during the seventeenth century. Jack has served as a United States Marine, worked as a broadcaster, freelance magazine writer, sports announcer, and book designer. He holds a Masters degree in History and another Masters in Teaching, and currently teaches history in Wilmington, N.C.